Why the Drinking Age Should Stay at 21

I am writing my essay reasons on why I feel we should keep the drinking age at 21. I know that many people believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18, and I will be talking about one of those strong points through out my essay. Many people argue that if a young person is able to support his country and go to war than that person should be able to drink legally.
I do understand where the reasoning on why most young people believe that serving our country gives them the right to be able to drink alcohol. I am a veteran and understand that it takes a lot of personal courage for someone to join the military and serve our country in a combat zone and risk their lives every day. So yes it is fair to say that these young people should be able to drink, but there are so many other reasons that prevent the government from lowering the drinking age. There are so many other reasons on why the drinking age should be kept at 21, and I will go into more depth on what those reasons are and provide evidence to support my reasons.
Research has shown that teenagers have started to use alcohol as early as the tenth grade, which means that they are more likely to encounter a lot of the issues that come along with drinking alcohol at an even earlier age. Teenagers are not ready and mentally prepared to face a lot of the issues that come along with drinking alcohol, such as being more aggressive and violent. There are multiple negative effects that come along with underage drinking such as, legal problems (tickets/arrests) education and job problems (missing days/performance) and then the medical issues that come along with drinking. Drinking alcohol can lead to liver problems, and even worse injuries that come from drunk driving, not to include death. Medical research has proven that the prefrontal cortex, the front portion of the brain, continues to develop into the…...

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...Why the Drinking Age should be lowered
Why the drinking age should be lowered
It is a Friday night, after a grueling week of studying, students are excited to go downtown and have a good time with their friends at the bar. One person gets to the bar and the bouncer sees his ID, takes a long look at him and says he can’t let him in. This situation happens to millions of college students all over the United States! The drinking age in the United States is 21 and it is somewhat of a controversy for many people. The drinking age should be lowered because people will engage in more responsible drinking, people in their teens will get in less trouble with the law and most importantly it will be the last step towards fully making 18 year olds a part of the adult community.
It is well known that college students like to drink. It is no secret, but where they buy and consume their alcohol is a secret. The president of Middlebury College, John Mcardell says, “kids find ways to get around the 21 year old limit. This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn't reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, into the most risky and least manageable of settings." Since most college freshmen and sophomores are under the legal drinking age they are not able to buy their own alcohol and much less go into a bar and have a drink. In a survey I made out of my class all 11 students said that they have consumed an alcoholic......

...Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of twenty-one die as a result of underage drinking; this includes approximately 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, and as well as hundreds from other injuries (NIAA). In today’s society we are presented with a real epidemic, underage drinking. As children grow older they are brought into different environments where they are presented with different obligations. Children bring alcohol into their lives to be cool or to fit in, but dying of alcohol poisoning leaves young people to fit into which group? Teenagers begin drinking as early as middle school or even sooner. (NLM) It is said that teens who drink are more likely to be victims of violent crimes. They are more likely to have serious problems in school. They are more likely to be involved in drinking and driving accidents. Children who start drinking young are also more likely to develop problems with alcohol later in life. With such a huge epidemic in underage drinking, why would law makers want to lower the legal age?
Throughout the United States, most seventeen year olds receive their drivers’ license. Seventeen year olds are still in high school and still testing different waters; some of the “water” is alcohol. It is hard to believe, but 70 percent of all teenagers drink alcohol, and 60 percent of all teen deaths in car accidents are alcohol-related (Eagle). Most parents want to believe that when they...

...Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18?
Every teenager anticipates the day that they will finally be eighteen years old. This is the day they are finally seen as being an adult in the eyes of our government. Eighteen year olds are now free to make their own life choices and be held accountable for them. At the age of eighteen, you are free to put your life on the line and fight for your country, if you commit a crime you can be tried as an adult in court, and you are also give the right to vote in your country. So, why should the drinking age be twenty-one years old when you are considered an adult at the age of eighteen? At the age of eighteen you are not mature and responsible enough to purchase and consume alcohol.
Alcohol has been around for centuries, showcased at parties, bars, sports events and just about everywhere. For these very reasons every day in our country the drinking age is being ignored and violated by young adults, teenagers, and even children all under the age of twenty-one. “On average ninety-five percent of those who will be alcohol consumers in their lifetime take their first drink before the age twenty one. Fifty percent of eighteen to twenty year olds consume alcohol on a regular basis” (McCardell 1). Based on these statistics we can conclude that the enforcement of the legal drinking age has fallen short.
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...Should the Legal Drinking Age be lowered to 18?
Ryan A. Conklin is a soldier who enlisted into the Army at the age of 17. He was deployed to Iraq when he was just 20 years old. In his book, he wrote about his daily duties of a soldier in Iraq and all of the sights and sounds that he witnessed. He makes a comment in his book about the drinking age in the United States. He states “I was twenty years old, and on April Fools’ Day, I would turn twenty-one finally legal to drink in a bar. Unfortunately, I was two-and-a-half years into serving my country and was living in a combat zone, and I found it odd that until then I was still not allowed to drink alcohol in the States. A law I hope will be changed in my lifetime.”
Different cultures and societies respond different to alcohol in terms of how much they can drink and what their bodies can handle. The legal age to consume alcohol in the U.S. should be lowered to eighteen for the sake of the people, the economy, and safety.
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...Lowering the Drinking Age To 18
By Daniel Harl
When a person turns 18 they are given many responsibilities and rights. They are able to vote, enter into contracts, serve in the military, and buy cigarettes and porn to their hearts content. But the one thing they are not allowed to do is buy alcohol. I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. Most people that agree with me will say that it should be lowered because of all that I just stated. I on the other hand believe that the drinking age should be lowered for a different reason. I believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because it was set at 21 to save lives, but it has not done that, in fact it has done the opposite and actually endangered more lives.
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SHOULD THE DRINKING AGE BE LOWERED????
While doing this research I have noticed that the views over whether or not the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen has still not been settled. It all started in 1984 with the national minimum drinking age act of 1984. This act required all states to raise their minimum age to 21(http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol). This law started on July 17, 1984.
For a long time people have talked about the good and bad to being able to drink alcohol before the age of twenty – one and still have not been able to come to a conclusion (Drinking Age ProCon.org). Even though most of my peers my think I am crazy for saying this, but I feel the drinking age should not be lowered. Many young American teenagers may disagree with me. They may argue that when you are 18 you can join the army and go to war and die for your country but you still can not drink. Some may say how is eighteen so different from twenty – one. How can three more years of not drinking be helpful to someone maturety level or health. Based on the information I have found in researching, I will explain why the legal drinking age should remain at the age of twenty – one. I will talk about the responsibility that comes with drinking, the medical issues it can cause and the impact it will have on even a younger age group.
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...Let me paint you a picture of a Britain not in the EU, a Britain alone and isolated. This Britain faces unemployment of around 11 million people. It faces problems of reduced immigration creating even more financial difficulties. It faces an extremely volatile and uncertain situation regarding future trade with other countries. Today I am going to talk about why these two main points- trade and immigration – form the argument of why we should stay in the EU.
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...debate about whether or not to lower the drinking age has been going on for years now with people on both sides having strong points. The side with the stronger side of the argument, in my opinion, would have to be yes, we should lower the drinking age to either eighteen or nineteen years old. I will be going over four points on why the drinking age should be lowered and they are as follows: it would teach responsible drinking behaviors and stop irresponsible college drinking, if we tried to raise the drinking age we would have another prohibition-like era which we all know how that turned out, there are fewer traffic accidents in countries with the drinking age of eighteen, and the morals around it, because if we can send an eighteen year old to Iraq then why can’t he make his own decision and have a drink?
Lowering the drinking age to eighteen or nineteen would help the irresponsible drinking and help educate youth to know moderation when it comes to alcohol. “According to procon.org they state that if youth between the age of eighteen and twenty were allowed to drink in controlled environments such as bars, restaurants, social events, and other licensed locations would allow them to learn moderation and not resort to binge drinking in other areas such as fraternity houses or house parties.” (Should) Many college students are drinking as a pass-time and we can’t seem to do anything about it that is just it is. If we lower the drinking age, however, it will not only show......

...Bruch
3/24/2013
Argumentative research paper
Why Not Change the Drinking Age Back to 18?
In the United States of America you are considered a legal adult at the age of 18 years old. You have all the major rights of a fully grown adult, voting, enlisting in the military, buying a house, buying tobacco products and many more. However there is one right that was taken away from the 18 year old adult back in 1984. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was put into place which changed the legal minimum drinking age from 18 years old to 21. Does this law mean that you are not really a mature adult until you are 21 or should the drinking age be brought back down to 18 when you receive all the other rights of a mature adult. It makes perfect sense that this right should be returned to young adults for plenty of reasons and also holds potential solutions to one of the nation’s biggest alcohol related problems.
What does it mean to be an adult? United States law states that you are legally considered an adult at the age of 18. It makes sense right? You can buy a house, enlist in the U.S. military, get married and loads of other rights you don’t have until the age of 18. But United States law also states that all states must enforce a legal minimum drinking age of 21. We are the only major nation to have such a high drinking age. The drinking age wasn’t always this high though. On July 17th 1984 the national minimum drinking age act was passed which meant that 18 year old......

...Underage drinking is dangerous because teenage bodies are not fully developed, teens become drunk quicker than older people, and they are less irresponsible. Many teens have died from accidents, health problems and drink due to life problems.
Every year in the United States, about 5,000 young people under age 21 die as a result of underage drinking. This includes; 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 from homicides, 1,200 from alcohol poisoning, falls, burns, and drowning and 300 from suicides. These numbers in my opinion are way too high for any age, especially for teenagers. Drinking can bring out the worst in people, emotions wise, such as; frustrated, enraged, upset, sexual, extreme happiness, desperate, disrespectful or depressed. Also, drinking can lead to poor decisions about engaging in risky behavior, including drinking and driving, sexual activity (such as unprotected sex), and aggressive or violent behavior. This will create serious problems while the teen grows.
Drinking too much on a single occasion or over time can take a serious toll on your health in ways you probably didn’t know. First health risk is your brain; alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. These disruptions can change mood and behavior, and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination. The second risk is your Heart: drinking a lot over a long time or too much on a single occasion can damage the...

...Blackjack is 21, Drinking should not
Happy Birthday! You're finally 18, legally an adult! What are you going to do first? Maybe buy a pack of cigarettes, or a lotto ticket, or porn; because you're an adult you can do anything you want... except buy alcohol. By current law, to buy and drink alcohol legally one must be at least 21 years of age. But why is this magical number 21? As a legal adult, I do not understand the reason behind not allowing me to drink.
President Ronald Reagan passed the national minimum drink age law in 1984. The act stipulates a minimum legal age of 21 for the purchase or public possession of any alcoholic beverage, and incorporates sanctions against states whose laws are not in compliance (Daniloff). Many argue that the age was changed to 21 because that is the approximate age that brain development levels off. This seems fairly logical, but is it really? And is it fair?
Many feel that 21 years of age is when someone truly becomes an “adult” and that is a fitting age to legalize the use of alcohol, I disagree. When one turns 18, in this country, they are legally an adult no ifs, ands, or buts and should have all the rights as any other citizen of this great country. As an adult, one can legally vote, serve in the military, get married, get a credit card, buy cigarettes, gamble, etc. the list goes on. So, in all aspects of life, when someone turns 18 they are an adult and responsible for themselves, except alcohol; so the government should not......

...Lowering the American Drinking Age
April 18, 2011
Table of Contents
I. Introduction- Speculation on the drinking age
II. Maturity Level
III. Cons against lowering the drinking age
a. Students and Drinking
b. Party Habits
IV. Pros for lowering the drinking age
c. Binge Drinking
d. The Limit
V. Risk
VI. The American View
e. Legal Responsibilities
f. Government Statistics
g. Capital
VII. Conclusion
\Abstract/Executive Summary
The drinking age should be lowered and Americans should take charge and know their limit.
When it comes to the subject of lowering the drinking age, many speculations have been made, both positive and negative. Ohio legislature should take into account both view points. A positive being a drastic reduction in binge drinking among the American population. A negative is the fear of higher death rates due to alcohol poisoning.
Lowering the American Drinking Age
The drinking age in America has been under speculation for many years now and even though the law is set for 21, there are still minors abusing their availability to the stimulant. One can argue that the law shouldn’t be 21 and should be reduced for many reasons. On the contrary others believe that it just might be the right age if not too low already. Many people disagree with lowering it because of the lack of maturity in young adults, the number of increasing injuries, deaths related to drinking alcohol,......

...Brian Basic
Should the Drinking age be reduced?
The drinking age goes way back in history. Drinking began to be considered a problem around the 1900’s. When the government decided to pass the 18th amendment in 1919 alcohol became prohibited throughout the United States. This amendment forced all alcohol underground. The crime rate started to rise drastically throughout the country. The crime rate rose because people were buying and selling alcohol illegally. As a result of all the problems evolved, in 1923 the 23rd amendment repealed the 18th amendment abolishing the banning of alcohol from the United States. That established the modern drinking age, but the age was not the same in all of the states. The states government had the freedom of being able to assign what they felt were a good age for people to start the consumption of alcohol. Most of the states chose the age of twenty-one, but several states allowed the purchase of beer to be at eighteen. "The political failure of general Prohibition meant that American adults would increasingly focus justifications for alcohol policy less on the perils of drunkenness and more on the tenuous concept that adults can drink properly but youths cannot or should not" (Males 190).
This lead to much discussion over the drinking age and the debate will go on for years to come. Throughout this debate, it lead to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which lowered the United States drinking age to eighteen. After this......

...Increasing or decreasing the legal age at which people can purchase and drink alcohol has been a controversial issue for quite some time now. Some people say that it should be lowered because teens drink anyway, some say that it should increase or the stay the same due to health risk. There are many other viewpoints to both sides and in this paper we are going to explore both sides to the story
Some believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered and we are going to explore why. They say if a person can go to war, shouldn’t he or she be able to have a beer? They American society has determined that upon turning 18 teenagers become adults. This means that they can enlist into the military to serve, fight, and potentially die for their country. Most importantly at age 18 you become legally responsible for your own actions. You can buy cigarettes even though in time you know that they can give you lung cancer. You may even purchase property, sign contracts, take out a loan, vote, hold office, serve on a jury, or adopt a child. But strangely at 18, one cannot buy a beer. In most other countries, the age of majority coincides with the legal drinking or purchasing age.
Lots of people drink before they turn 21, despite the current legal drinking age. Doesn’t that prove that the policy is ineffective? The trend over the past decade is that fewer 12-20 year olds are drinking, but those who choose to drink are drinking more. Between 1993 and 2001, the rate of 20 year old who...